{"id":111517,"date":"2016-11-26T11:00:46","date_gmt":"2016-11-26T09:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/?p=111517"},"modified":"2016-11-26T10:30:02","modified_gmt":"2016-11-26T08:30:02","slug":"why-2016-may-be-the-last-time-we-see-black-friday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/business\/111517-why-2016-may-be-the-last-time-we-see-black-friday","title":{"rendered":"Why 2016 may be the last time we see Black Friday"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Black Friday is the \u201ctraditional\u201d start of the holiday shopping season, when hordes of eager consumers line up outside retailers in the wee hours to ensure they don\u2019t miss out on steeply discounted televisions, faded jeans and smartphones.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=zLVhlyOkGbs\" target=\"_blank\">Fistfights<\/a><\/strong> over printers are known to occur.<\/p>\n<p>But has Black Friday, which occurs the day after Thanksgiving, lost its luster as more retailers downplay its significance as just another Christmas shopping day, pulling the holiday season further away from its traditional moorings in December?<\/p>\n<p>And as consumers expect steeper discounts earlier in the year, what does that mean for retailer profit margins?<br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/zLVhlyOkGbs?wmode=transparent&amp;start=0\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\">The true meaning of Black Friday<\/h3>\n<p>Once upon a time, the Christmas season \u2013 with all its lights, mangers, music and sales \u2013 began only after we had time to digest our Thanksgiving turkeys.<\/p>\n<p>And that gave Black Friday special significance as its official start.<\/p>\n<p>Black Friday\u2019s <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.history.com\/news\/whats-the-real-history-of-black-friday\" target=\"_blank\">origins are murky<\/a><\/strong>, with the first recorded use of the term in 1869 to refer to a crash in the gold market that sank the stock market.<\/p>\n<p>An oft-cited story claims it refers to the day when retailers are finally in the \u201cblack\u201d (profitable) for the year.<\/p>\n<p>The last two months of the year typically account for 20% of retailers\u2019 annual revenues and <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/2015\/10\/05\/us-usa-retail-holidays-idUSKCN0RZ11Q20151005#LtwftIEX2SfqoPG6.97\" target=\"_blank\">as much as a third<\/a><\/strong> of their profits. Nonethless, the story is considered inaccurate and more of a marketing myth.<\/p>\n<p>The \u201ctrue story,\u201d according to the <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.history.com\/news\/whats-the-real-history-of-black-friday\" target=\"_blank\">History Channel\u2019s website<\/a><\/strong>, is that police in Philadelphia used the term to describe the chaos that descended on the city as suburbanites poured in for the post-Thanksgiving Army-Navy football game.<\/p>\n<p>Regardless, the day\u2019s importance is increasingly fading as \u201c<strong><a href=\"http:\/\/qz.com\/532809\/how-long-before-we-see-santa-in-july-introducing-quartzs-christmas-creep-calculator\/\" target=\"_blank\">Christmas creep<\/a><\/strong>\u201d \u2013 referring to businesses exploiting our holiday spirit before the holiday really begins \u2013 gets earlier and earlier every year.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\">Seasonal shopping<\/h3>\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.zacks.com\/commentary\/62217\/will-retailers-strike-it-rich-this-holiday-season\" target=\"_blank\">Many retailers<\/a><\/strong>, such as Walmart, Target and Best Buy, started their seasonal promotional and discount shopping strategies in October or even earlier.<\/p>\n<p>More broadly, retailers are downplaying the significance of Black Friday, often still offering the especially steep discounts to lure customers but also on the day before and, in Walmart\u2019s case, online for the first time.<\/p>\n<p>The retailer says its <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/article-3330218\/After-moving-Black-Friday-Thursday-Walmart-shifts-Cyber-Monday-SUNDAY.html\" target=\"_blank\">efforts<\/a><\/strong> to lessen the significance of the single day is aimed at public safety: a Walmart employee was trampled to death in 2008 after shoppers rushed the doors at a store in New York state.<\/p>\n<p>But it\u2019s also a reflection of the reach of the internet and that more people will be tackling their Christmas shopping lists online. (A <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pymnts.com\/news\/2015\/amazon-gets-an-early-holiday-shopping-gift\/\" target=\"_blank\">recent survey<\/a><\/strong> claimed more than half of respondents plan to do a majority of their holiday shopping on Amazon.com.)<\/p>\n<p>Other consumer <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/newsroom.accenture.com\/news\/more-us-shoppers-plan-to-increase-holiday-spending-annual-accenture-survey-reveals.htm\" target=\"_blank\">surveys<\/a><\/strong> bear out the move away from Black Friday. Almost a third of shoppers said they planned to do most of their shopping before the week of Black Friday, while about 66% of millennials said they intend to complete a majority of their shopping by December 1.<\/p>\n<p>Clothing retailer Gap, another company jumping on the bandwagon, <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/seekingalpha.com\/article\/3707456-american-eagle-abercrombie-and-fitch-and-express-send-promising-signals-holiday-countdown-week-3\" target=\"_blank\">informed<\/a><\/strong> shoppers a week ago that \u201cBlack Friday Starts Now,\u201d and many other retails did the same thing, diminishing the day as a \u201cpromotional hot button.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\">Bye bye Black Friday?<\/h3>\n<p>But before we kiss goodbye to Black Friday as the herald of the traditional shopping season, a few retailers are fighting back or trying something entirely different \u2013 in part to <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.zacks.com\/commentary\/62217\/will-retailers-strike-it-rich-this-holiday-season\" target=\"_blank\">protect their thinning margins<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Nordstrom, for example, is holding tight to its <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/abcnews.go.com\/Lifestyle\/nordstrom-praised-social-media-shunning-christmas-creep\/story?id=35099108\" target=\"_blank\">long-standing policy<\/a><\/strong> of not putting up holiday decorations until the day after Thanksgiving.<\/p>\n<p>The Seattle-based clothing retailer has also <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.marketwatch.com\/story\/nordstroms-earnings-show-its-pulling-away-from-the-pack-2015-08-14\" target=\"_blank\">cut<\/a><\/strong> the number of \u201cclearance\u201d events \u2013 days with promotional markdowns \u2013 by 20% this year than a couple of years ago and will trim it by another 25% in 2016.<\/p>\n<p>Teen apparel retailers Abercrombie and Fitch and Aeropostale are also focusing more on minimizing promotions, as opposed to the deeper cuts offered last year.<\/p>\n<p>REI, on the other hand, is trying an entirely different tack. It <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/black-friday\" target=\"_blank\">says<\/a><\/strong> it will close on Black Friday and give its staff the day off to enjoy the outdoors.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\">Resistance is futile<\/h3>\n<p>But <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/2015\/10\/05\/us-usa-retail-holidays-idUSKCN0RZ11Q20151005#LtwftIEX2SfqoPG6.97\" target=\"_blank\">how far they can go<\/a><\/strong> in fighting this trend and resisting heavily discounting items in the face of heavy competition isn\u2019t clear, given how pre-conditioned consumers are to the seasonal promotions.<\/p>\n<p>Retailers with overstocked inventories have little choice but to move product, even if they have to lower prices, even as the need to protect margins and profits grows in a bumpy economic environment.<\/p>\n<p>Balancing each will be a genuine challenge with a fair amount of risk in getting it wrong.<\/p>\n<p>A recent <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pwc.com\/us\/en\/retail-consumer\/assets\/pwc-2016-holiday-report.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">PricewaterhouseCoopers survey<\/a><\/strong> indicates that about 87% of consumers are considering price the primary driver of their purchase decisions \u2013 particularly households making less than US$50,000 a year \u2013 up three percentage points from last year, while a still-weak recovery suggests people will remain stingy about how they spend their money.<\/p>\n<p>Forecasts for holiday sales growth, meanwhile, have been mixed.<\/p>\n<p>Market research firm NPD <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/2015\/10\/05\/us-usa-retail-holidays-idUSKCN0RZ11Q20151005\" target=\"_blank\">says<\/a><\/strong> this season may slow the slowest year-on-year growth since 2009, or about 3%, while eMarketer <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.emarketer.com\/Article\/Happy-Holiday-Season-Expected-Retailers\/1012898\" target=\"_blank\">expects<\/a><\/strong> a 5.7% jump in sales, the most since 2011.<\/p>\n<p>The biggest increases are seen in online sales, which are expected to account for about 9% of total sales, up from 8.3% in 2014, thanks to the growing importance of Cyber Monday, the first business day after Black Friday.<\/p>\n<p>In the end, whatever the original origins of the phrase, all that really matters to retailers is whether Black Friday and the rest of the holiday shopping season will in fact put them in the black \u2013 or leave them in the red.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>This article was originally published on <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/theconversation.com\" target=\"_blank\">The Conversation<\/a><\/strong>. Read the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/is-black-friday-a-thing-of-the-past-50832\" target=\"_blank\">original article<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It looks like this might be the last time people take Black Friday seriously.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":220,"featured_media":111521,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_enabled":true,"_sma_x_custom_text":"","_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[15623,1197,13770,1826,23381,797,8287,2163],"class_list":["post-111517","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-15623","tag-black-friday","tag-deal","tag-game","tag-last","tag-sale","tag-shops","tag-south-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111517","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/220"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111517"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111517\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/111521"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}